WHEN French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre visited the late film director John Huston in his Co Galway home over half a century ago, little did he know that his 300-page carbon copy manuscript would be the subject of a rare archive.
Sartre wanted to sell the idea of making a film about psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, but his script was so unsuitable that it required considerable work by Huston to pull it off – which the director did, with Freud: The Secret Passion(1962), starring Montgomery Clift.
This and other details form part of an extensive archive which the Huston family is due to present to NUI Galway (NUIG) today.
Huston’s son Tony and daughter Allegra will sign over the archive to the university’s James Hardiman library.
His other daughter Anjelica is currently travelling, but will be there in spirit – Huston’s interpretation of James Joyce’s The Dead, in which she played a starring role, forms a central part of the material.
“It was Huston’s last film, and one which is particularly important as he was facing his own mortality,” according to Rod Stoneman, director of the NUIG Huston School of Film Digital Media, who brokered the donation with Seamus Mac Mathúna of NUIG.
“Bringing this material into the public domain is an exciting development for those interested in John Huston’s work. It is at the intersection of American cinema and Irish culture,” he said.
Tony Huston, who is already in Ireland to participate in one of his favourite pursuits, falconry, said it was appropriate that an Irish university should receive the archive.
It also includes sketches and watercolours donated by Teresa Grimes, daughter of the late set designer Stephen Grimes, who worked with the celebrated director.